REGION: Counterfeit ring busted

Authorities announced Monday that they busted a counterfeit ring
that produced more than $100,000 in fake $100 bills and ran up
hundreds of thousands of dollars more in charges on stolen credit
cards throughout San Diego County.

The counterfeiters, who included motorcycle gang members and
white supremacists, "washed" authentic $1 bills and used the paper
to print more than $100,000 in $100 bills, authorities said.

The suspects also stole credit cards and used them to book hotel
rooms and make store gift cards.

"These counterfeiters ripped off local businesses from Ocean
Beach to Oceanside," District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said in a
written statement.

Dumanis called the ring "one of the most organized
counterfeiting operations we have seen lately in San Diego
County."

The months-long investigation, dubbed "Operation Blue Ray,"
started late last year and included authorities from agencies such
as the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Marshals and San Diego Police
Department.

The ring first came to light when authorities noticed
individuals using the counterfeit money to buy Blu-ray DVD
players.

One of the first cases was at a Target store in Vista, where
suspects attempted to buy the machines in December, Deputy District
Attorney Sharla Evert said.

More than 30 people have been charged in connection with the
counterfeit operation, Evert said.

They face a number of charges, including identity theft, grand
theft, credit card fraud and counterfeiting, and face up to 30
years in state prison if convicted, Evert said.

Members of the ring committed a variety of crimes to get their
hands on credit cards, such as home invasion robberies and
burglaries, authorities said. The suspects also stole flat-screen
TVs from the hotel rooms in which they stayed.

As many as 70 burglaries were attributed to the ring,
authorities said.

Some of the stolen credit cards were used to book high-end hotel
rooms online, authorities said.

The rooms were then converted to counterfeit money labs, in
which $1 bills were washed in chemical solutions to remove the
ink.

The paper from the bills was used to print fake $100 bills,
Evert said.

In January, the group switched from making counterfeit money to
making counterfeit gift cards, authorities said.

They used the information from stolen credit cards and
transferred it to store gift cards via computer, Evert said.

The benefit of using the store gift cards instead of the credit
cards is that stores don't require customers to show identification
when paying for merchandise, Evert said.

"I think that they were a very sophisticated counterfeiting
ring," Evert said.

Authorities found records for more than 5,000 stolen credit
cards within the organization, including credit card information
that allegedly came from hotel employees who lifted the data from
customer receipts.